The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan War itself, according to senior American government officials.

Why this story appeared now was a question on a lot of people’s minds, especially considering how Risen explained its timing:

American and Afghan officials agreed to discuss the mineral discoveries at a difficult moment in the war in Afghanistan. The American-led offensive in Marja in southern Afghanistan has achieved only limited gains. Meanwhile, charges of corruption and favoritism continue to plague the Karzai government, and Mr. Karzai seems increasingly embittered toward the White House.

So the Obama administration is hungry for some positive news to come out of Afghanistan.

Risen hasn’t taken kindly to the criticism, as Yahoo! News reporter John Cook found out when he tried to interview him. Risen snapped at Cook:

The thing that amazes me is that the blogosphere thinks they can deconstruct other people’s stories…. Do you even know anything about me? Maybe you were still in school when I broke the NSA story, I don’t know. It was back when you were in kindergarten, I think.

Risen apologized for his outburst, explaining that he “didn’t sleep well last night,” thanks to all the criticism.

So what does the story mean, exactly? Some of the sleep-depriving commentary added some helpful context:

–The Atlantic‘s Marc Ambinder noted that Afghanistan’s potential mineral wealth has been known for some time: “The story is accurate, but the news is not that new.” He wondered if the story was really “a broad and deliberate information operation designed to influence public opinion on the course of the war.”

–Paul Jay also commented on the fact that this was already known, and that the Times should have raised questions about a possible connection to the U.S. troop surge:

The problem is, what the NYT describes as “beyond any previously known reserves” and “the previously unknown deposits” were in fact quite well known–in 2007, well before President Obama made the fateful decision to send thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan.

–And economist Dean Baker responded to the idea, advanced in a Timesfollow-up story, that this discovery would amount to $38,482.76 for every Afghan. He wrote:

It would be useful to note that this is a gross number, it does not subtract the cost of extracting the minerals nor does it consider that these resources would likely be extracted over many decades.

Activism Director and and Co-producer of CounterSpinPeter Hart is the activism director at FAIR. He writes for FAIR's magazine Extra! and is also a co-host and producer of FAIR's syndicated radio show CounterSpin. He is the author of The Oh Really? Factor: Unspinning Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly (Seven Stories Press, 2003). Hart has been interviewed by a number of media outlets, including NBC Nightly News, Fox News Channel's O'Reilly Factor, the Los Angeles Times, Newsday and the Associated Press. He has also appeared on Showtime and in the movie Outfoxed. Follow Peter on Twitter at @peterfhart.

Let me comment on this part: The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder noted that Afghanistan’s potential mineral wealth has been known for some time: “The story is accurate, but the news is not that new.” He wondered if the story was really “a broad and deliberate information operation designed to influence public opinion on the course of the war.”

I suspect that Afghanistan’s mineral wealth was known long before 2007. After all, why did the Soviets invade Afghanistan? To see if they could make a lie of Afghanistan’s reputation for empire-killing? And why were we so enthusiastic to get them out? The center of the terrorist trade is not in Afghanistan anymore – and 9/11 was plotted in Germany, Spain, the US – and supposedly al Qaeda itself is hiding in the wilds of Pakistan. Despite what many Americans believe, our country very seldom does anything for altruistic reasons.

I’ll bet Dick Cheney wishes we’d been able to keep it a secret that Iraq has oil, until after we had unseated the evil dictator there and brought Democracy to the natives, in order to enliven US public support for them distracting us from going after the real 9/11 criminals, whomever they may really be…

I thought by now everyone was clear on the Afghanistan and Iraq thing:

Afghanistan has the necessary right-of-way for the pipeline(s); Iraq has the stuff you put in the pipelines.

See pages 1-6, Executive Summary, Chapter I: The Future of Hydrocarbons in the Middle East & Caspian Basin, by the stinging group Dick & the Oilers. (In the as-yet-unpublished Cheney Papers, the ones he threw his back out moving on Jan 19, 2009 after he gave up trying to roll his three standup-up Mosler safes out of his WH office)

Chapter 2 is: Destabilizing the World Economy For Fun and Profit

Chapter 3: How to assure Continuity of Government When Angry Citizens Lose Their Rights (or, Dispersing the Bonus Marchers, Redux)

Chapter 4: Why Waterboarding is Superior To The Iron Maiden, The Rack, Strappado, Molten Lead In The Ear, A Clyster of Snow Water & Sand, and The Procrustean Bed. Includes “Lessons Learned” from 218 Cases Where the Interviewee Could Not Be Resuscitated and Was Drowned. With an Introduction by Dick “No-Brainer” Cheney, to distinguish that he was referring to the famous fictional dinner served by Hannibal Lecter to his enamorata, himself, and the victim, whose own lightly sauteed pre-frontal cortex (with leeks, shallots and chervil?) provided the entrée. The author explains the care required to ensure that enough brain is left with the victim so their olefactory nerves are not impaired, so they can manipulate silverware satisfactorily, and engage in dinnertime chat until dinner is over and the brains remaining in situ are offered to the cats–or packed in a doggy bag for later snacks.

Chapter 11: Tasering Without Scars: Techniques and Voltage Levels For Adjusting Guests’ Demeanor/Attitudes While Using Heimats Versicherheit Abteilung Open Air Guest Hostels. (Including important monograph on the rapid deployment of duct tape over participants’ pieholes.

(the chapters appear to be in random order; perhaps this is only a first draft, and Cheney will revise it before Wikileaks publishes the work next spring. I’ll be waiting with unabated breath (publishing deadlines oft times slip in these cases where the author exhibits a pathetic and/or pathological attachment to his work, or is concerned about subsequent prosecution and the administration of the death sentence (see 18 USCode Â§2441 The US War Crimes Act)).

You might also read Oath Betrayed: Torture, Medical Complicity and the War on Terror, by Steven H. Miles, M.D. (the title refers to the Hypocritical Oath taken by members of the Cheney/Bush administration, the military leadership and the M.D.s assisting the OGA (other government agency, i.e., the CIA) in trying to force “confessions” out of various and sundry Arabs, Persians, Kurds, Italians, Germans, Americans as to their complicity in 9/11/2001.

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